Karat asks Manmohan Singh to quit

New Delhi, Sep 4 (IANS) Accusing the Manmohan Singh government of lacking transparency in the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal and misleading the people of the country, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Thursday asked the prime minister to quit immediately. “Manmohan Singh should quit. They should either call parliament (session), or they quit,” said CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat a day after the Washington Post published details of the letter the US State Department to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the India nuclear deal.

Earlier in the day, the Bharatiya Janata Party also called for the immediate resignation of Manmohan Singh’s government for “misleading” the nation on the nuclear deal. It said it would move a privilege motion in parliament against the government during a special session if the demand was not met.

Both parties’ demand came hours before the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG), which controls the world’s nuclear fuel and equipment supply, was to begin a two-day special session in Vienna to decide on a “clean waiver” to allow nuclear commerce with India.

The CPI-M alleged that the new revelation by the US daily is contrary to what the prime minister has said in parliament.

All the parties are going to meet President Patil to urge her to immediately convene the monsoon session of parliament, Karat said.

Describing the government as “shameless,” Karat said his party would do everything possible in parliament to get rid of the government.

“Why are they afraid of parliament? Why are they running away from parliament?” the CPI-M leader asked.

The monsoon season is over in India, ironically the monsoon session of parliament would be held Oct 17, Karat said.

Praising the US government for its transparency in the bilateral deals, Karat said: “The Manmohan Singh government thinks it can fool the country. They did it on the issue of 123 Agreement and when signed the India specific safeguard agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).”

The US State Department gagged the details of the nuclear deal till date, as it is diplomatically sensitive to India, Karat said.

“The Indian government was fully aware that the fuel supply assurance did not cover a termination of the 123 Agreement and they have deliberately misled the country,” Karat said.

Karat also claimed that his party had got the contents of the document that the Washington Post published two months ago and said an article was written in the party’s mouthpiece “People’s Democracy.”